Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Dates of Note in Country Music, February 1-15

Category: News

(Hall of Fame members in bold on birth/death date, followed by hall[s] of fame in which they are enshrined and the year enshrined. CM=Country Music; BG=Bluegrass; NS=Nashville Songwriter; SG=Southern Gospel, StG=Steel Guitar; OTF=Old Time Fiddler; RR=also in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

Garth Brooks (CM 12, NS 11) born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1962 (now 55)Wilma Lee Cooper born in Valley Head, West Virginia, 1921 (died 2011)Warren Smith born in Humphreys County, Mississippi, 1933 (died 1980)Ambrose Allen of the Allen Brothers born in Sewanee, Tennessee, 1901 (died 1959)Dale Evans died in Happy Valley, California (congestive heart failure), 2001 (was 88)Molly Bee died in Oceanside, California (complications of a stroke), 2009 (was 68)Patsy Cline's last recording session, Nashville, 1963. The last song she recorded was a cover of Moon Mullican's "I'll Sail My Ship Alone."Jim Reeves recorded "Four Walls" in Nashville, 1957. This song is said by many to be the beginning of the "Nashville Sound."

February 8:Don Wayne Reno of the Reno Brothers born in Roanoke, Virginia, 1963 (now 54)Pappy Daily born in Yoakum, Texas, 1902 (died 1987)Bob Dunn (StG 92) born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, 1908 (died 1971). Dunn is credited as being the first country musician to use amplification for his instrument.Dan Seals born in McCamey, Texas, 1948 (died 2009)Merle Watson born in Deep Gap, North Carolina, 1949 (died 1985)Lulu Belle Wiseman died (Alzheimer's disease), 1999 (was 84)Pauline "Mom" Lewis of the Lewis Family (BG 06) died in Washington, Georgia (illness), 2003 (was 92)Keith Knudsen of Southern Pacific died in California (chronic pneumonia), 2005 (was 56)

About Me

Independent scholar and free-lance writer since 1989, my work includes working on the Anthony Russell Country Music Records: A Discography 1921-1942 editorial staff and contributing to the Grove's Encyclopedia of American Music. My current project is a biography of Country Music Hall of Famers Homer and Jethro.